Skip to content 20240816dailyhopegrowingintheseasonsoflifebroadcastunderstandingtheseasonsoflifept1 Aug 7 · 23 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
101K followers
Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
101K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:02 Hey friends, thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Well, today we're gonna begin a series called Growing in the Seasons of Life. And in this series, Rick shares the biblical0:13 wisdom you need to live your best life, no matter what state you're in. So let's jump right in with Pastor Rick for part 1 of a message called Understanding the Seasons of Life.0:26 Now this week, Tom and I are beginning a new series we're going to do called Growing in the Seasons of Life. We're gonna do a series on growing up in your faith. Because that's what we all need to0:38 do. We'll be looking at different seasons in the the weeks ahead. Now this morning, we have a special treat because helping us, I've asked co a co teacher, Kay, my lovely0:50 wife, to help help out out with this message this morning. Boy, that was pretty wimpy clapping is all I can say.1:08 I've asked her to do this this morning for a couple reasons. Number 1, she's taught me more about the seasons of life than anybody. And number 2, we wanna emphasize the fact that the seasons of life1:20 dramatically affect affect your marriage or any relationship that you have. Those of you who are married, have you figured out yet that you and your spouse are often in different seasons? How many of you figured that1:32 1 out? Yeah, right. And so things don't always mesh. You're always either growing together or you're growing apart in any relationship. Always closer or always apart. A relationship1:44 never stands still. And if you understand the seasons of life, you'll better sympathize with your mate when they're going through them. In fact, you can help them through seasons maybe you've been through, and they can1:56 help you through seasons that they have been through. So let's just, this morning, look at a general introduction to the series. In the weeks coming, we're gonna look at specific seasons of life. But2:07 today, just kind of a brief overview. So take out your outline. When God created the earth, he set up seasons of weather. And in Genesis 2 22, it says, as long as the earth2:19 remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night. Now we all know that. But God has also established seasons of human2:30 activity. Seasons of life. Relational, physical, spiritual. Emotional seasons of life. And Ecclesiastes 3 1 it says, read it with me.2:42 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. I like it in the New Century version it says, everything on earth has its special season. Now2:54 some of you know that my hobby is gardening. And I I think I like it because God wired me in such a way that I like to watch things grow. So he gave me a church that would do that.3:07 Every gardener knows that if you don't have changes in seasons, your plants aren't gonna make it. You have to have seasonal changes in order for plants to grow. The same3:19 is true in your life. You have to go through various seasons in order to mature and grow. Now this morning, quickly, I wanna just give you 5 general facts about the seasons of life. Then we're going to look3:31 at how to make the most of the seasons of life regardless of which 1 you're in. And then next week, in the succeeding weeks, we're gonna take individual seasons of life that we all go through. First 5 facts about the3:42 seasons of life. Number 1, they are beyond my control. They are beyond my control. You control when they happen. You can't control how long they happen. You can't control the location or the duration of3:54 them. In fact, most seasons, new seasons of life begin with an irritation, an interruption or an inconvenience. And when you enter a new season, your neat little schedule just gets4:05 thrown out the door. And all of a sudden, because of something that's just happened in your life, all your plans just evaporate and you have to completely redirect. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Grief4:17 is a season of life. And you'll go through that many times in life because there will be times when you have an extended illness. There will be times in life, which you can't control by the way. There4:29 will be times in life when if you're a parent, kids are eventually gonna grow up, move out and marry. That will be a loss. Every 1 of us in this room are going to lose loved ones in our lifetime.4:41 Every 1 of us, and you can't control that. It's frustrating that we can predict what the seasons of life will be in your life, but we never can figure out exactly when they're gonna happen or which one's gonna happen4:52 next. Waiting is a season of life. You know the reason why you have to wait so much in life? Because everything's out of, so many things are out of your control. If you could control it, you wouldn't have to5:04 wait. So the seasons are uncontrollable in your life and no matter what you'd like to do about it, worry about it, it's not gonna happen. Now have you noticed that some seasons just seem to speed by and others5:16 tend to just kinda drag on? I remember for instance in school that elementary school seemed like it's gonna take forever to get through the sixth grade. It just seemed to drag5:28 on and on and school was never gonna get out. Then when I got in high school, high school went very fast. I mean all of a sudden it was over. And then I got into college and graduate school and I thought I was gonna die.5:40 I thought I'm gonna be writing term papers and dissertations the rest of my life. And some things happen fast and some happen small. You cannot control the duration of the seasons that that you are in.5:53 So who does determine the seasons of life? Well, God does. Daniel 2 21 says, God controls the times and the seasons. He makes and unmakes kings. That means he sets some people up leaders and he deposes6:04 others. God is in control of world events. It may not look like it, but God is in control. That, by the way, is 1 of the reasons why I, as your pastor, don't worry too much about what's going on in the world. Because God6:16 is in ultimate control and it's moving toward a destiny that he has in mind. And who happens to be in a particular office at a particular time, in the long scheme of things, is not gonna affect at all what God has6:28 planned for this world. They're beyond our control. The second thing about seasons of life is that they're often confusing. Now, again, you know this 1 from experience. Sometimes you're in a situation you go, why is6:40 this happening to me? I just don't understand it. And in fact, understanding usually follows an experience rather than preceding it. In other words, we always tend to understand the seasons we're6:52 in after they're over. We don't usually understand it in the situation. Why is this going on? What's happening? We don't see any good in it many times. But after you You see, looking back on your life,7:04 you have a far greater perspective than looking ahead because looking ahead, you don't know what's gonna happen. Looking back, you know everything that's happened and it gives you perspective to see the seasons that7:14 you've gone through. So they are confusing. Hindsight's 20 20. However, there are some things that are gonna happen throughout your life. You're just never gonna7:26 understand. And God does not owe you an explanation. And you're not gonna get an explanation until you get to heaven because God wants to teach you to live by faith,7:38 not by explanations. The Christian life lives by faith, not by explanations. Notice this verse, Ecclesiastes 3 11, God does just God does everything just right and on7:50 time. But people can never completely understand what he's doing. How many of you agree with that verse? Yeah, right. Well, you know, you just Let me say this. If you could understand why God8:01 does everything that he does, you'd be God. You'd be God. And you're not. It's like an ant trying to understand a human. Your brain capacity isn't big enough to understand why8:13 God does all the things that he does. Now number 3, the third fact about this is that not only they're out of control, they're often confusing, but God has a purpose. God has a purpose8:25 for every season of your life. The lonely seasons, the sad seasons, the seasons of success, the seasons of waiting, the seasons of grief and on and on. We are very familiar8:36 with this verse, Romans 8 28. We know that all things that happen to us, all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. Now circle the phrase8:48 working for and circle the word if. Because this is a promise not for everybody. All things do not work together for good for everybody in the world. They only work together for good8:59 for those who love God and are fitting into his plans. In other words, you're trusting him with what you're doing. Now this is 1 of the basic truths in the bible. 1 of the most basic truths is9:11 that nothing, if you are a believer, nothing comes into your life that hasn't been filtered by your heavenly Father. That your life is not a random series of freak accidents9:23 and occurrences and circumstances that just happen. That it is not by accident. God never does anything by accident. He has an appointed time for9:34 everything in your life. You say, even the bad times? Yes, even the bad times. Now don't misunderstand me. God does not have to plan all the problems in your life.9:46 He doesn't need to. I mean, you come up with them yourself. So God doesn't have to plan bad times in your life. They happen because of you,9:58 bad decisions you make, and they happen because of bad decisions other people make and you're an innocent victim. So he doesn't have to plan bad because God is not the author of evil. But he does have a purpose10:10 that he can draw good out of each and every event in your life. And that means every single event. No matter how dark, no matter how shameful, no matter how bad and how guilty or how10:23 bitter I feel about it, God can bring good out of it. He can work for good. It doesn't say all things are good. Remember, we've talked about this many times. Not all things are good in the world. There's a lot of bad.10:34 And the bible does not say all things are good. It says all things work together for good for those who give God all the pieces and say, God, would you work good out of this? Now if you don't do that, he's not gonna work10:45 good out of it. But if you say, God work good out of this experience in my life, he will. And he has an appointed time for everything. Now number 4, the seasons of life include both good10:57 and bad times. Seasons of life include both good and bad times. Life is full of contrast. We go through mountains and we go through valleys. We go11:09 through successes and we go through failures. We have winnings and we have losses in our life. Now, in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 2 to 8, we11:21 have that list of 28 different life experiences. They just sang the song about it. Turn, turn, turn. There's a time for this and a time for that. I've listed them there. And this is not an exhaustive list of the seasons11:32 of life. It's just a representation. You see, in weather there are 4 seasons. There are 4 seasons. But in your life, there are dozens and dozens11:44 of different seasons. And we'll look at a few of them in this series. Now notice he says there's a time to be born, a time to die. He says there's a time to laugh, There's a time to cry. There's a time to11:56 find. There's a time to lose. That 1 by the way is 1 of the most difficult experiences in life. Have you ever had a problem trying to figure out whether should I hold on or let go? You ever had that12:08 1? Okay. Do I hold on to this dream that isn't happening? Or do I let go because maybe it isn't what I'm supposed to be doing anyway? Do I hold on to this relationship or do I let go of it?12:20 I mean, rescue teams have to face it all the time. Do we keep on searching or do we give up the search? That's a difficult time and the bible says there's a time for both of those. Says there's a time to keep12:32 and a time to throw away. That's a good verse for your garage. Just look under your bed and put that verse there. You12:43 know, I've discovered that in life there are 2 kinds of people. There are hoarders who hold onto everything and there are pitchers who like to throw stuff away. Pitchers always marry hoarders.12:57 Always. And it creates enormous sparks of creativity. You're gonna hold on to that, you wanna throw it away. We might need it someday.13:10 And some of us are such hoarders that you can't even not only fill your house with it, you have to go buy 1 of these little mini storage places to put more stuff. We are a nation of hoarders. Time13:22 to throw away. I mean, okay, that's, some of you that's all you needed to hear today. Go home and do your spring cleaning. You're dismissed. And it just says there's all these other things, gather and scatter. Scatter.13:33 Time to hug, time to not hug. Do you know what that is in the Hebrew? There's a time to have sex and there's a time to not have sex. Says there's a time to speak up and a time to be quiet. And usually we13:45 get those 2 mixed up. And we need the courage to speak up when we should and we need the love to be silent when we need to be silent. But the point is this,13:58 life is a combination of contrasting seasons. All sunshine and no rain makes a desert. If you were following God's will, if you're really trying to live your life according to the way God wants you to live,14:11 each of these experiences have meaning, purpose, and value in your life. Some of you, and they're all God's will. Some of you think the only time you're in God's will is when you're at church or having a quiet14:23 time. You can be in God's will cleaning out a closet. You can be in God's will, you know, mowing your lawn. You can be in God's14:35 will moving to a new location or not moving to a new location. There's a time and season for everything. Now do you remember that song years ago that Ray Stevens used to sing? Everything is14:47 beautiful in its own way. Do you remember this song? He lied. It's not true folks. Everything is not beautiful. Cancer's not14:58 beautiful. Child abuse is not beautiful. War is not beautiful. Everything is not beautiful in its own way. He misquoted Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 3 11,15:10 which says this. God makes everything beautiful in its own time. Very different. Very different. That God can take15:22 even bad things and in the proper season, turn them around, use them for good in the way that He intends. Now listen. Some of you are going through a season right now that's not beautiful.15:34 In fact, it's downright ugly. Your finances look ugly. Your health looks ugly. Your relationship, your marriage, or your friendship looks ugly.15:46 Your future looks ugly. But I wanna say this to you. God will bring good out of it and he can make something beautiful out of that if you'll give him the pieces.15:58 Now number 5, the fifth principle about the seasons of life is that what I sow in 1 season, I will reap in another season. Now every farmer knows this, you16:10 plant in the spring and you harvest in the fall. You don't plant in the spring and immediately the next day, you harvest. We wanna do that. We wanna plant for instance, you know, start tithing and then say, okay, no. I16:22 just put in my check and I'm gonna walk outside and God's gonna respond to it. No. You plant a seed in 1 season and you always harvest in another. I remember growing up, my mom used to say to me, now Rick,16:34 the bad habits that you develop in the home and at school, school, you're gonna carry on into your marriage and your career. And you know what? She was right.16:46 She was right. And you reap in another season what you In other words, the way you respond right now is definitely going to affect your future. On the other hand, if you16:57 respond correctly in a season of life and if you do the right thing, even when you don't feel like it. I don't feel like it in this17:09 season. And there are seasons when you're spiritually dried up. It pays great dividends in the future. Notice this verse. Let us not grow weary in doing well for in due17:21 season we shall reap if we faint not. In other words, if we don't give up. Now these are 5 myths or facts about seasons of life. On the back of your outline, now let's look at how can17:32 I make the most of each season of my life? How can I grow from it? How can I develop in it? How can I become all God wants me to be? Well, regardless of which season you're17:44 in, there are 4 questions you need to ask yourself no matter what situation you're in. The first 1 is this. What can I learn in this season of life?17:57 Always be looking for something you can learn in this season of life. In fact, would you agree that there are some things that we only learn through experience? Sure. There are some things18:08 that's the only You're not gonna learn them in a book. You only learn them from the school of hard knocks. This is what God says in Deuteronomy 11 2. Read this verse with me. Remember what you have18:20 learned about the Lord through your experiences with him. Now, to understand the seasons of life that we're gonna go into in this series, you gotta have 1 basic18:32 truth down under your belt and that's this. Life is a test. Are in Life is preparation for eternity. This is not18:44 the big show. Folks, you're in the warm up act of your life right now. You're gonna live on earth 60, 70, maybe 80 years at the most. And then you're gonna spend the rest of eternity in18:55 eternity. Far more time, you'll spend far more of your life on that side of death than you will on this side of death. This is the warm up act. This is a test. You're in preschool. This is a preparatory19:07 academy. And God wants you to learn a whole bunch of things before you get over there. 1 of them is that he died for you and rose for you and wants a relationship with you. But after you have that19:18 relationship, he wants you to learn certain character qualities which you will take with you into eternity. That's all you're gonna take. You're not gonna take anything else with you when you die, but you will take your19:29 character. The kind of person you've made yourself to be. And so, God says, I want you to grow and I want you to learn. And all these seasons and every single season, there's an important19:41 lesson to learn. Now, to make the most of each season of life, you've gotta extract those lessons. You've gotta look for the truths. Look for the principles. Say, what does God wanna teach me? And when you're going19:51 through a season, you don't say, why is this happening? But instead you say, Lord, what do you want me to learn? Because God never wastes the hurt and he never wastes the season. He always wants you to learn something20:03 out of everything that's going on in your life. And if you waste that experience, you're making a big mistake because it's not just an experience, it's an education. So you ask, what can I learn20:15 from this? You gotta use your mind. That's gonna make the difference. I read this little poem this week. Our ends are joined by a common link with 1 we sit and with 1 we think.20:27 Success depends on which we use. Heads I win, tails I lose. You gotta think and you gotta examine and extract and say, what does God want me20:39 to learn?20:46 You know your prayers and financial support are having a huge impact on millions of people here and around the world. So thank you. Thank you so much. And now Rick's gonna share a20:58 letter from 1 of our listeners who says Daily Hope is making a real difference in their life.21:03 It's always encouraging to hear how Daily Hope helps listeners like you, how it helps you mature in your faith. Let me read you a letter I got just recently from Sherry. She said, Pastor Rick, this ministry has literally21:14 saved my life. After a series of disappointments, I had lost all hope and I saw no reason to go on. And that changed when I discovered daily hope. Now I hold on21:26 praying expectantly. You know, that's the little acrostic we use for hope, H O P E. She said, My circumstances have not changed, but my outlook has. And now rather than being depressed about where I am in life, I've21:37 learned to be thankful for this time of spiritual growth. I don't know what the Lord has planned for me, but I know it's good. And I look forward to a future walking side by side with Him and using this experience to21:48 help others through their own struggles. Gratefully, Sherry. Sherry, I can't tell you how much this letter means to me. You know, God will never let you down. He's with you every step of the way. And22:00 thank you so much for writing to me and letting me know how God is working in your life. I'm praying for you, and I'm gonna ask you to pray for me. By the way, thanks everybody for listening today, and join me next time22:11 as we continue to look into God's word for our daily hope.22:14 Thanks so much, Rick. And if you'd like to let Rick know how much this broadcast has meant to you, how it's blessed you, please send him an email at rick at pastor rick dot com. That's rick at22:26 pastor rick dot com. Rick looks so forward to reading those emails. This program is sponsored by pastor Rick's daily hope and your generous financial support.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.